San Diego Padres: Renfroe Slams Friars to Another Series Win

The San Diego Padres took two of three from the Cincinnati Reds at Petco Park this weekend. This snowball is starting to gain a little girth.

The San Diego Padres dropped the first game of their home series against the Reds in deflating fashion. They had just come off of winning three-of-four over the Marlins and were riding high.

The letdown on Friday night was short-lived, though. The Friars jumped on the back of Eric Lauer and were all over Reds’ starter Matt Harvey. Manuel Margot, Franmil Reyes, Eric Hosmer, and Travis Jankowski all had multi-hit games, and things were rolling once again for the Padres.

Yesterday was more of the same for the Friars’ offense. The hits were spread around and they were certainly not short on bringing the dramatics. Tyson Ross shined again. The bullpen did their jobs. It was a good day at the ballpark.

San Diego Padres eventually crack Castillo

Eric Hosmer got on base in the bottom of the first inning but was picked off attempting to steal second, missing out on an opportunity. Castillo retired the side in order in the second and third innings and stranded Hosmer at first base to end the fourth.

Just a side note. Hosmer is now slashing .289/.375/.459 this season with a 133 OPS+, a league-leading seventeen doubles, and 1.5 wins above replacement, as per baseballreference.com.

In the fifth is when the fireworks began. Franmil Reyes led off the inning with a single and Freddy Galvis added bunt single after him. Manuel Margot drew a walk on a 3-2 count to load the bases, then Rafael Lopez grounded out, forcing out Reyes at home and bringing in Hunter Renfroe as a pinch-hitter.

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That thing was tattooed. All of a sudden it was 4-2 and things only got better from there. Hosmer added his third hit of the game later in the inning but nothing came of it.

Reyes added his second hit of the afternoon in the sixth and this time, the Friars capitalized. Raffy Lopez singled to center field, scoring Reyes and giving the Padres a 5-2 lead.

Cory Spangenberg added a solo shot in the eighth to make it a 6-3 game and it stood up for San Diego’s fifth win in their last seven games.

It’s also the Pads’ fifth win in the six games they’ve played since they acquired Phil Hughes from the Minnesota Twins (and a compensatory pick in today’s draft) last week.

Hughes made sure to bring that to our attention yesterday, via Twitter.

Next: Lauer's Fastball Keeps Improving

Let’s hope this coincidental (or is it?) run continues. The Padres begin a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves tonight.